Best results mean the best school

KARACHI: Cambridge O Level exams are starting on May 11 and students across the city at this very moment are busy prepping. Many hope to score well, and some are dreaming of high honours, such as grabbing the ‘Top in World’ awards given by the board for the highest marks. For those with these awards in hand, the Karachi Grammar School (KGS) is usually the institution of choice. Handpicking the best students from across Karachi, KGS usually has the best A Level results in town.

Ten of its students scored the highest marks in the world for the AS and A Level exams for 2009. This was the highest number of world achievers out of Karachi’s schools, with The Lyceum coming second with three students. This is according to the University of Cambridge International Examinations collated lists of high achievers according to subject, school, level and city.

Two KGS students received ‘Top in World’ awards for scoring the highest marks in Economics and Business Studies. Seven of its students were ‘Top in Karachi’ in Art and Design, Biology, Co m p u t i n g , F u r t h e r Mathematics, H i s t o r y , Physics and T h i n k i n g Skills. One of their students a l s o emerged as the “Best Across Four Cambridge International A Levels”. Meanwhile, one KGS student received a ‘Top in World’ award in AS Levels Environmental Management, another ‘Top in Pakistan’ in AS Levels Urdu Language, one ‘Best Across Three and Four Cambridge International AS Levels’ and one ‘Best across Five Cambridge International AS Levels’. Swaleha Alam, one of the six A Levels Economics teachers at KGS, told The Express Tribune,

“The level of competition among KGS students is very high. We get about a 100 entries for applicants into the A Levels Economics programme from across the schools in the city and KGS handpicks the best. Therefore we only get high achievers and students who are very hardworking.” She went on to talk about her current batch of students who had appeared for the AS Levels examinations at which Tabish Jaleel Shaikh scored the ‘Best Across Five Cambridge International AS Levels’ that included Economics. “Tabish is an exceptional student, very promising. She has been a high achiever all her life,” Alam said. She won a number of awards during her O Levels, which she completed at the Beaconhouse School System, Islamabad. She scored the highest marks in the O Levels in Accounting, Economics, Business and Additional Mathematics, a combination she has taken on at KGS as well. “I want to go to Cambridge University for Economics.

I got shortlisted on the condition that I get three As in my A Levels,” Tabish said as she spoke about her plans. She has applied to a number of colleges in the UK as well as Pakistan and Hong Kong. “I didn’t know if I would continue with Economics. I wanted to go for ACCA or Business, but now I think I will go for Economics,” Tabish added. Tabish is one of the many high achievers in a long list of KGS students out of which Syed Fawwad Hasan, Akash Ahmed Shaikh, Muneeba Rauf Tabani, Sohaib Khalid Hashim, Mohammad Ali Khan, Muhammad Musab Jilani, Raza Aziz Naqvi, Aliza Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali Mansoor and Akash Ahmed Shaikh came out at the top.

Other A Levels high achievers include Ahmed Ali from The Lyceum School, who received a ‘Top in World’ in Literature in English and a ‘Top in Karachi’ in Sociology while Muhammad Sadiq Abdul Hafeez was ‘Top in Karachi’ in Mathematics. From the Beaconhouse School System, Muneeb Ahmed Khan was ‘Top in Karachi’ in Chemistry, Hira Ayub Silat was ‘Top in Karachi’ in Psychology and Mohammad Saadullah came ‘Best Across Three Cambridge International A Levels.’

Saad Masood from The City School was ‘Top in Karachi’ in Accounting while Wajiha Rais from The British Council Karachi was ‘Top in Karachi’ in Law and Mubashira Anwar from the Summit Educational System was ‘Top in Karachi’ in Urdu. Among the AS Level high achievers, Muhammad Usman Khan from The City School received a ‘Top in World’ in the General Paper while Mohammad Imtiaz from The British Council Karachi was ‘Top in Karachi’ in English Language.